Seth Meyers believes there can only be a supernatural explanation for President Donald Trump’s health deterioration since his return to the White House.
The late-night comic, 52, made a jab at the 80-year-old president’s bulging cankles in the opening section of his first TV appearance after a seven-week break from the air, during which Meyers quipped he was “thrilled” to report that “nothing happened” over the summer.
Meyers then promptly corrected himself by reeling off a list of developments that included soaring gas prices, diesel at an all-time high, the deepening chaos of Trump’s war in the Middle East, and the president’s threats over the weekend to annihilate the entire nation of Iran.
“He’s said stuff like that before, I’m sure that’ll get straightened out,” the comedian joked. He then swerved off course again to address apocalyptic warnings of runaway advancements in artificial intelligence, which Trump has called a hoax despite reports that false intel from an AI program had almost sparked a war between the U.S. and China.
Meyers noted that amid mounting hysteria over prospects of a killer-robot-driven mass extinction event, Vice President JD Vance has warned AI companies that “if you’re building Frankenstein, stop.”
“First of all, it’s Frankenstein’s monster—gotcha, ya’ burned,” the comedian shot back at the vice president. “Second of all, we already have a Frankenstein!”
“As you can tell from the way President Trump walks,” he went on, playing first a clip of Trump ambling about on the White House lawn before sharing pictures of the president’s bruised hands and swollen ankles. “President Frankenstein, which explains his hands and ankles,” Meyers added. “Those aren’t his. He’s sewn together from dead body parts.”
White House doctors have attributed bruising on the president’s hands to his use of aspirin to reduce his risk of heart disease. They have also chalked his cankles up to chronic venous insufficiency, a condition common in older people where veins have trouble returning blood to the heart.
Other symptoms of the octogenarian president’s declining physical health include a rash on his neck and moments where he appears to briefly lose his balance. Still, they have paled against signs of Trump’s growing mental decline, which include his increasingly erratic behavior in public, deranged late-night posting sprees, moments of acute confusion or forgetfulness, and a tendency to nod off during high-profile meetings.
Trump’s physical well-being and cognitive performance since returning to the White House have raised concerns and sparked growing calls for lawmakers to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows a president to be removed if they are too incapacitated to perform the duties of office.
